In geography and geology Þorvaldr Thoroddsen has acquired a European fame for his researches and travels in Iceland, especially in the rarely-visited interior. Of his numerous writings in Icelandic, Danish and German, the History of Icelandic Geography is a monumental work. In history Páll Melsteð’s (b. 1812) chief work, the large History of the World, belongs to this period, and its pure style has had a beneficial influence upon modern Icelandic prose.
Of the younger historians we may mention Þorkell Bjarnason (History of the Reformation in Iceland). Jón Þorkelsson (b. 1822), inspector of the archives of Iceland, has rendered great services to the study of Icelandic history and literature by his editions of the Diplomatarium Islandicum and Obituarium Islandicum, and by his Icelandic Poetry in the 15th and 16th Century, written in Danish, an indispensable work for any student of that period. A leading position among Icelandic lexicographers is occupied by Jón Þorkelsson, formerly head of the Latin school at Reykjavik, whose Supplement til islandske Ordbøger, an Icelandic-Danish vocabulary (three separate collections), has hardly been equalled in learning and accuracy. Other distinguished philologists are his successor as head of the Latin school, Bjôrn Magnússon Olsen (Researches on Sturlunga, Ari the Wise, The Runes in the Old Icelandic Literature—the last two works in Danish); Finnur Jónsson, professor at the University of Copenhagen (History of the Old Norwegian and Icelandic Literature, in Danish, and excellent editions of many old Icelandic classical works); and Valtýr Guðmundsson, lecturer at the University of Copenhagen (several works on the old architecture of Scandinavia) and editor of the influential Icelandic literary and political review, Eimreiðin (“The Locomotive”).
See J. C. Poestion, Islandische Dichter der Neuzeit (Leipzig, 1897); C. Küchler, Geschichte der isländischen Dichtung der Neuzeit (Leipzig, 1896); Ph. Schweitzer, Island; Land und Leute (Leipzig, 1885); Alexander Baumgartner, Island und die Faroer (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1889).
(S. Bl.)
[1] Jökull, plural jöklar, Icel. snowfield, glacier.
[2] Flói, bay; fjörðr, fjord.
[3] Vatn, lake.
[4] See Th. Thoroddsen, “Explorations in Iceland during the years 1881-1898,” Geographical Journal, vol. xiii. (1899), pp. 251-274, 480-513, with map.
[5] For the periods succeeding the union, Danish state papers and the History of Finn Jonsson are the best authority.